So! The day had finally arrived, as I’ve said so many times before, for us to once again begin the scarctic circle gathering, but this time in the UK! We got up fairly early in order to have some real english breakfast (yum!) and later got ready for the show. This time, finally, Michelle and I were able to use our airline hostesses costumes! Not a day too late. We packed down one of the cakes from yesterdays celebration, packed all the necessities and then headed for Subway to pick up some food and then went to queue.
It was so convenient – the arena was located no less than about 20 minutes from our hotel, however, it was very hard to find. We got to the destination where we were supposed to be, and we saw their tourbus so it had to be there right? We saw a poster next to it that indicated it COULD be there, but we weren’t sure. As Paula went away, a guy who worked there came out and told us it WAS indeed The Engine Room, so we were all set!
However, we finally see Paula coming back from wherever she was, and just as she approached, OX comes out of the venue unmasked. Here’s the deal: Paula doesn’t wanna see the band unmasked. So we nodded at him a little… and then… I yelled to Paula “CLOSE YOUR EYES!” and she stopped. The thing is, she stopped behind a big wall, so OX looked back at us completely confused and I was like DAMN… Didn’t mean it like that haha!
Well, what can you say about queueing in Southampton. Rainy. Windy. REALLY WINDY. So windy the birds couldn’t even fly properly. But you know, we solve it the way we do best. Like acting like fools. Building invisible houses, having burpcontests (the other two) and other normal things. Love these two girls.
For once, we actually queued fairly long, and when slicing up the cake we managed to make a new friend! Nathan is his name, around the same age as us, real fun dude! The queueing went on and on, and the bandmembers passed and disappeared as the day went on. Paula and I left to go to the bathroom, and end up on the fourth floor of IKEA, which gave us a marvellous view!
When we got back, I noticed Michelle, Nathan and someone else was talking to Mr Lordi, so I obviously did the only normal thing anyone would do: I grabbed my phone and called Curt. Gladly, despite it being like 3 am, he picked up, and by that, we made him have a little phonechat with Mr Lordi. He kinda died. I think. A bit.
We got to know the person Michelle had befriended, William was his name! A real sweet guy from Germany, about the same age as our younger ones in the Swedish Crew, real sweet dude! At this point, the members were coming in and out of the arena on a rolling band, so I just put a blindfold over Paula’s eyes instead of telling her to close them. This, caused Amen to come up to me and asked my why I was having that infront of her eyes, and I simply told him that it’s because she doesn’t wanna see them unmasked.
And then he proceeded to hug her, and the best part? She didn’t even know it was him. And then he whispered in her ear that he thought it was cute and left the scene, and that’s when she realized who hugged her, and she literally broke down crying. He returned a little later to hug her again because she was crying.
Eventually, it got closer and closer to the opening hour and before we knew it, the doors were opened and we went inside.
This venue, is REALLY tiny. A little bigger than Sala But, but still. We took our spots and then headed for the bathroom. Went back, had a small chat with DP’s merchguy (I might add, we’ve been interacting with DP and their merchguy all day) and then took our spots again to wait for Dirty Passion.
Pretty much right on time, they entered the stage and started off the show. They delivered a very energetic set, as always, but one thing changed this day! They decided to dedicate their song, “Addicted” to Paula because of her birthday! Fucking love it!
They left the stage after a flawless gig and the wait for Hollywood Groupies started. I the mean time, we started prepping a little bit for our prank for Lordi, I’ll tell you all about it later.
Before we knew it, Hollywood Groupies walked on stage.
Just as before, the gig was as energetic and party-wise as previously, I can’t stress enough what an amazing frontwoman Foxy is, love seeing them. But yes, great show, awesome and all, and after it they left the stage to wait for Lordi.
So, after Groupies, it was time to properly prepare. We tied up our hair, put on our sunglasses, got in position… and then the show started. The flightattendant came out, did her thing, and the band walked out on stage one by one and they started off with “Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein”. And we stood completely still. Like statues.
I must admit, it was HARD. Like, I broke my pokerface almost immediately, and I had to look away from them to not start laughing. Hahaha. God, it was hard! They continued on with “This is Heavy Metal” and we removed our jackets. Halfway through the song, we removed our glasses, looked at each other and nodded. I’m not sure how much of all of this Lordi actually saw, but we got some weird looks from Amen, haha.
For the third song, we got in position and right as the guitars started in “Hard Rock Hallelujah”, we pulled out our hairdo’s and started going crazy like normal. I’m still not sure if anyone actually noticed, but we had a LOT of fun with it.
“Deadache” was the next song on the list before it was time for Hella’s little solo. It was just as brutal as always, and “Hell Sent in The Clowns” followed. Awesome.
“Blood Red Sandman” was ripped off, as well as Mana’s amazing solo followed by “Give Your Life For Rock n Roll” and “Don’t Let My Mother Know”. Just fucking brilliant, you know? OX Solo, again without the soundeffects, gave us some nice basstunes followed by “How To Slice A Whore”. I fucking love this song.
“It Snows In Hell” approached and of course, we turned around and hung upside down. What we didn’t see coming, was Mr Lordi spitting all over us. Thanks dude! Right in my eye! It was followed by “The Riff” and later “Sincerely With Love”. No matter how many times they ask us to flip them the finger, I will always show you a heart.
Amen’s beautiful little solo came up, which was followed by “Not The Nicest Guy”. Amen went to the middle of the stage, did his thing, but instead of just devil’s horns, he also formed a heart with his hands. Love him. “Devil is a Loser” was the last song for the night before the band left the stage.
Of course, as usual, only to come back. “Scare Force One”, “Who’s Your Daddy” and “Would You Love A Monsterman” was the final songs of the night before the band said good night for good.
The show was good, just as the others, and I’m more than pleased!
After waiting for a little while (since the band was heading out to the dressing room through the crowd) we hit the merchstands. I first of all bought a Hollywood Groupies tee, and also had a picture taken with the band. I mean, after all these years, can you believe it?
We went on to Dirty Passion’s merchstand where I ALSO got a shirt, and a nice chat with the Merchinator. Moved onto Lordis, got myself the Tour Beast tourbook. Seriously, I should just make up my mind and buy everything on there.
We went out of the arena and began the wait for a certain person in a band for some questions, and as the members appeared one after one, we had Paula’s shirt signed. With her blindfolded. I literally had to pack her up to every member and especially OX had quite the laugh about it, haha.
We stood for a while and talked to the guys in Dirty Passion before they left to get food, and eventually Amen came out and he teased Paula a little bit for not seeing him, and Nasty joined us. Later joined by Mr Lordi, where we confessed that he had spit on us on purpose. Oh, did I mention Amen love the thing we do in “It Snows In Hell”? Success!
The night went on and on, and eventually we all departed ways and we passed out on the hotel room, more than satisfied with the evening.
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 